Redistricting and Reapportionment

News about Redistricting and Reapportionment, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Mar. 26, 2015

Supreme Court, in 5-4 vote, reverses lower court ruling on Alabama redistricting plan; says state relied too heavily on race in 2012 redistricting by keeping high concentrations of black voters in some districts; also revives pregnancy discrimination lawsuit against United Parcel Service by Peggy Young. MORE

Mar. 3, 2015

Supreme Court hears case which pits Arizona State Legislature against independent redistricting commission created by state voters; several justices hint commission, intended to make process of drawing congressional district lines less partisan, crossed constitutional line. MORE

Mar. 3, 2015

Editorial warns of consequences of Supreme Court ruling in favor of Arizona State Legislature's challenge to voter-established commission designed to reduce partisan gerrymandering; laments that if voters have no means by which to curb state legislatures from creating system that rewards incumbency, ideal of representative government no longer lives up to its name. MORE

Nov. 14, 2014

Editorial examines case before Supreme Court that could have significant implications for future of Voting Rights Act; notes main legal question in case is whether Alabama lawmakers paid too much attention to race when they redrew state's district lines; calls on justices to reaffirm 1965 law and stop lawmakers from turning sophisticated piece of legislation into a cartoon. MORE

Nov. 13, 2014

Supreme Court hears Alabama redistricting case in which black and Democratic lawmakers say state Legislature relied too heavily on rigid racial quotas in its 2012 redistricting by maintaining high concentrations of black voters in some districts; Supreme Court has previously ruled that racial gerrymandering is constitutionally suspect, but state officials argue they were complying with Voting Rights Act. MORE

Oct. 13, 2014

New York State ballot item to reform redistricting will likely benefit whichever party wins control of State Senate after next census in 2020. MORE

Oct. 8, 2014

United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit rules that Virginia state legislators packed too many black voters into one congressional district in order to make adjacent districts safer for Republican incumbents. MORE

Oct. 3, 2014

Supreme Court adds 11 cases to its docket, including ones on redistricting in Arizona, judicial elections in Florida and discrimination in housing and employment. MORE

Sep. 18, 2014

Justice Patrick J McGrath of New York State Supreme Court rules that ballot question on formation of commission to redraw legislative district lines cannot refer to proposed panel as 'independent,' because most of its members would be appointed by leaders of Legislature. MORE

Aug. 30, 2014

Coalition of voters rights organizations that successfully sued Florida over gerrymandering is appealing state’s redrawn congressional districting maps; coalition will not protest use of new boundaries in the November elections, but has asked appeals court to bump case to Florida Supreme Court so it can be settled by 2016 elections. MORE

Aug. 23, 2014

Florida Judge Terry P Lewis approves slightly modified congressional map drawn by the Republican-dominated Legislature and decides that 2014 election can proceed under old map, which he previously ruled unconstitutional; decision is blow to state Democrats, who had asked Lewis to reject map. MORE

Aug. 21, 2014

Florida Judge Terry P Lewis is weighing whether to approve revised boundaries for seven of the state's congressional districts; lawyers for groups that sued the Republican-dominated Legislature over original boundaries argue that new map is scarcely different from old one, and say it should be rejected because it still gives Republican Party an advantage. MORE

Aug. 12, 2014

Florida's Republican-controlled Legislature approves new voting maps after Judge Terry P Lewis ruled that current congressional districts were illegally drawn to benefit Republicans and unconstitutional. MORE

Aug. 9, 2014

Florida lawmakers approve redesign of congressional map that was ruled to be unconstitutional; in all, seven districts in Central Florida will be slightly affected by the rejiggered map, which is expected to be approved by the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature. MORE

Aug. 2, 2014

Judge Terry P Lewis of Leon County gives Florida State Legislature two weeks to submit a new proposed congressional map to replace the gerrymandered boundaries of Fifth and 10th Congressional Districts, already ruled unconstitutional; question of whether November general elections will be delayed is postponed, leaving future of 2014 congressional races in doubt. MORE

Jul. 24, 2014

Florida circuit Judge Terry P Lewis is being asked to move state's 2014 election dates, including postponing August primary, in order to draw up new congressional districts. MORE

Jul. 16, 2014

Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford and State Senate Pres Don Gaetz say Legislature will redraw boundaries for two congressional seats that judge ruled unconstitutional, but ask that new map not take effect until 2016 elections, arguing that change would throw 2014 elections into chaos. MORE

Jul. 15, 2014

Opening statements begin in case concerning electoral districts drawn in 2011 for United States House elections and voting maps for the Texas House; at issue is whether Republicans drew the original maps with the intent to discriminate against its burgeoning Hispanic population; if so, Texas could be required to continue seeking federal pre-clearance under the Voting Rights Act. MORE

Jul. 12, 2014

Judge Terry P Lewis tosses aside redrawn district lines for Florida's Fifth and 10th Congressional Districts, finding that districts’ boundaries wandered in indefensible ways that benefit Republican Party; with Florida’s primary election only six weeks away, it is unclear whether voters will cast ballots in Aug and then in Nov based on map that has now been declared unconstitutional. MORE

Jul. 11, 2014

Jul. 8, 2014

Some North Carolina residents say proposal to save money and streamline operations by consolidating five voting precincts into two is really an effort to suppress black voters who generally vote Democrat; uproar is part of broader voting rights battle charged by race and partisan politics that is happening in many Southern communities, where changes to election laws no longer require advance approval from the federal government. MORE

Jul. 8, 2014

Editorial asserts constitutional amendment proposed by New York Gov Andrew Cuomo intended to reform state's flawed district map will in fact make matters worse and increase partisan gridlock; warns amendment will make it easier for New York legislators to continue to draw district maps that keep incumbents in office, and is mainly a way to maintain status quo. MORE

Jun. 19, 2014

Jousting between New York State Sen Adriano Espaillat and Rep Charles B Rangel over white residents, who have poured into greater Harlem area in recent years, underscores how gentrification and redistricting have altered battle lines in 13th Congressional District, long seen as stronghold of black political power in New York; 25 percent of New Yorkers voting in primary are expected to be white, smaller portion than Hispanics and blacks but enough to sway results. MORE

Jun. 3, 2014

Supreme Court agrees to consider challenges from Democratic lawmakers who say Alabama Legislature packed minority voters into a few districts, diluting their voting power; divided three-judge Federal District Court panel in 2013 ruled that the redistricting plan is lawful and does not deny black voters the right to participate in the political process. MORE

Jan. 26, 2014

Gray Matter column by Profs Jowei Chen and Jonathan Rodden describes their test of the assertion that Democrats would control Congress if redistricting did not favor Republicans, theory published in the Quarterly Journal of Political Science; contends that the Democrats' geography problem is bigger than their gerrymandering problem. MORE

Nov. 16, 2013

Op-Ed article by Prof Richard L Hasen notes that Republicans in Texas and elsewhere, freed of Voting Rights Act restrictions, are defending gerrymandering and voter ID tactics by claiming partisan, rather than racial, motivation; calls for federal judges to introduce more skeptical and universal standards in reviewing changes to voting laws. MORE

Nov. 5, 2013

Joe Nocera Op-Ed column observes Election Day 2013 falls in an off-year, which means voter turnout will be abysmal; calls for reforms that could both invigorate the electorate and encourage more responsive and less extreme political candidates, including moving elections to the weekend, open primaries, end to gerrymandering and bringing back the small donor. MORE

Sep. 27, 2013

Editorial calls on John Thompson, new director of the Census Bureau, to reform current system of counting prison inmates as residents of the states in which their prisons are located; contends practice distorts the political process and raises concerns about the fairness of the census process itself. MORE

Sep. 7, 2013

Federal court says it will not delay Texas' primary elections and orders state to temporarily use political maps drawn by the Legislature while the judges sort out a complex lawsuit; issue is whether the Legislature illegally drew maps that diminish minorities' voting power. MORE

Aug. 23, 2013

Justice Department says it will become a co-plaintiff in case against Texas redistricting plan, and will sue state over law requiring voters to show photo identification. MORE

Apr. 10, 2013

Jim Dwyer About New York column notes two main political parties in New York State have deal that allows each side to fix maps so their incumbents are protected from any serious challenge; calls it the Albany squid effect, in which the most powerful suction comes through the drawing of electoral maps every 10 years when a new census comes out. MORE

Mar. 30, 2013

Charles M Blow Op-Ed column maintains Republican gerrymandering has produced homogeneous enclaves that remain out of step with America's burgeoning cultural and ideological diversity; holds narrow-minded representatives produced by these districts are causing serious public image problem for party. MORE

Mar. 1, 2013

News analysis; voting law experts say if Supreme Court strikes down or otherwise guts Section Five of Voting Rights Act, there will be far less scrutiny of thousands of decisions each year about redrawing district lines, moving or closing polling places, changing voting hours or imposing voter identification requirements in areas that have history of disenfranchising minority voters. MORE

Feb. 3, 2013

Op-Ed article by Sam Wang, founder of Princeton Election Consortium, underscores how gerrymandering has resulted in a Congress that does not reflect the actual vote, and has benefited Republicans more than Democrats; offers two proposals to curb trend. MORE

Jan. 25, 2013

Editorial criticizes Republican state senators in Virginia for using absence of one Democratic member to ram through surprise redistricting map patently designed to aid Republicans' grab for majority power in next election; urges Gov Robert McDonnell to veto remapping. MORE

Jan. 24, 2013

Republicans in Virginia State Senate, with Democratic Sen Henry L Marsh III absent, push through redistricting bill by one vote that Democrats say dilutes voting strength of blacks. MORE

Dec. 15, 2012

Democrats and Republicans alike use legislative redistricting to keep and gain power, but it played especially well in this year's elections for Republicans, who were able to maintain control of House of Representatives even after losing popular vote; many see redistricting as one of the factors exacerbating political polarization (Series: Democracy Tested). MORE

Nov. 19, 2012

New York City Districting Commission approves revised plan that will define all 51 City Council districts for the next decade, redrawn to reflect population shifts in the 2010 census; approval is in response to concerns that its initial redistricting proposal was unfair to minorities. MORE

Nov. 8, 2012

First election since California's overhauled electoral system was adopted played havoc with some of state's Congressional delegation; some incumbents were defeated by fellow Democrats and some Republicans facing possibility of the same fate under new redistricting rules, with their races still too close to have been called. MORE

Oct. 30, 2012

Comments made by Rep Mike Coffman of Colorado questioning Pres Obama's American citizenship have come back to haunt him after formerly conservative district he represented skews Democratic after redistricting; likelihood that Coffman may lose seat to opponent Joe Miklosi has major implications for partisan split in the House as well as presidential race. MORE

Oct. 27, 2012

Fight over seats in House of Representatives is fiercest in California, despite Pres Obama’s comfortable lead in polls there, due to nonpartisan redistricting that has made many races competitive for the first time in a generation. MORE

Oct. 9, 2012

Potent combination of Congressional redistricting, retirements and campaign spending by special interests is pushing out moderate members of both parties, leaving a shrinking corp of consensus builders in Congress; exit of centrists has left both House and Senate more polarized than at any time in the last century. MORE

Oct. 8, 2012

Washington State's newly drawn First Congressional District is a rarity in the 2012 elections, as it was constructed with exacting bipartisan balance; contest between Democrat Suzan DelBene and Republican John Koster is also unusual in that voters will have the opportunity to vote twice for the same seat, once for two-year term beginning in January 2013 and again for interim one-month term in 2012. MORE

Oct. 3, 2012

Month-long schedule of public hearings begins on redistricting map proposed by New York City's Districting Commission to delineate, block by block, the future boundaries of City Council members' districts; commission's executive director Carl Hum suggests that the commission is open to changes in the proposed map in order to ensure that minority groups are represented fairly. MORE

Sep. 29, 2012

Congressional race between Reps Howard Berman and Brad Sherman of California, two Democratic incumbents who have been set against each other by redistricting and by a change in state law that pits the top two primary finishers against one another regardless of party, is being closely watched; race is viewed as a battle between institutional support for Berman against the local appeal of Sherman. MORE

Sep. 26, 2012

Supreme Court rules that small population variations in a new map of the West Virginia Congressional districts do not violate the 'one person, one vote' principle, even though advances in computer mapping technology have made it possible to achieve near-perfect equality in representation. MORE

Sep. 25, 2012

Changes to primary system in California, coupled with state's adoption of nonpartisan redistricting, is causing upheaval in the nation's largest and most influential Congressional delegation. MORE

Aug. 30, 2012

Editorial praises ruling from federal three-judge panel rejecting new redistricting plans for Congressional and state legislative seats in Texas; agrees that panel properly found the redistricting maps, based on the 2010 census, to have a discriminatory purpose and would reduce the ability of black and Hispanic voters to elect candidates they favor. MORE

Aug. 29, 2012

Federal court in Washington rules political maps for Congressional, State House and State Senate districts drawn by the Republican-controlled Legislature in Texas discriminate against minority voters, but the ruling is unlikely to affect the November elections; state attorney general vows to appeal decision to the Supreme Court. MORE

Aug. 9, 2012

Series of House and Senate races around the country are unfolding in interesting, and at times amusing, ways; bounty of drama and oddities is due in large part to the decennial Congressional redistricting that opened new opportunities and to the inflow of cash into down-ballot races. MORE

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The Supreme Court, by a 5-to-4 vote, reversed a lower court ruling, forcing the reconsideration of a redistricting plan. The justices also revived a pregnancy discrimination suit against United Parcel Service.